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Gypsy Rose Lee
![Kathy Pinna Photo of Kathy Pinna](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/821/38128/38128-tiny.jpg?)
A famous "striptease" dancer, Gypsy Rose Lee shed her clothes (but not all of them!) with elegance and wit.
Mata Hari
![Kathy Pinna Photo of Kathy Pinna](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/337/10733/1073320190227162713-tiny.jpg?)
Grietje Zelle, known as "Mata Hari" on stage, in 1906 Paris. Her stage presence - and her life - were considered scandalous but she lived the way she chose to!
Quaker School dancers
![Kathy Pinna Photo of Kathy Pinna](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/337/10733/1073320190227162713-tiny.jpg?)
1920 dancers at the Friends Select School - May Festival.
Ginger Rogers
![Kathy Pinna Photo of Kathy Pinna](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/821/38128/38128-tiny.jpg?)
Best known for dancing with Fred Astaire, she could do it all - from tap to dancing backwards in high heels!
TheIsadorables
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Isadora Duncan is considered "The Mother of Modern Dance". These are some of the girls she taught.
Elizabeth Duncan
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Sister of Isadora, she ran a school of dance in Germany and Greece
Ruth St. Denis
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Another pioneer of modern dance, this is Ruth St. Denis in 1909.
The "Butterfly Dance"
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Suffragettes performing their own version of modern dance for the cause in 1913.
"Dancer"
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Her name isn't recorded but this colorized close-up of a dancer somewhere in the '20's or 30's gives you an idea of the types of costumes during that era.
The artistry
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
This is a 1927 photo of Ruth St. Denis - the focus in dance was on the artistry, as this photo shows.
Guthrie dancers 1924
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Greek and Roman influences were a large part of the modern dance movement.
Autochrome of a dancer
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
The autochrome process (a color photo) was patented in 1903 and widely used from the 1910's through the mid 1930's.
Dancers in nature
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
The female form, as well as nature, was celebrated in modern dance.
Bebe Daniels 1934
![Kathy Pinna Photo of Kathy Pinna](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/337/10733/1073320190227162713-tiny.jpg?)
She was a silent screen star and dancer - nothing "natural" abouthercostume!
Maria-Theresa Duncan
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
These are the Isadorables, including Maria-Theresa Duncan who was an adopted daughter of Isadora Duncan.
Florence Fleming Noyes
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Florence Noyes danced for women's rights - can't you see the movement in this photo?
Women as Madonna?
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
These are the Isadorables, posed more as a tableau than a dance form.
Ruth St. Denis
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Is she scared? Is she amazed?? What exactly is she portraying in this dance?
Frolicking!
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Dancing in nature was a favored part of the Duncan sisters' art.
1940's Glam
She was a 1943 dancer at the Roxy.
Fairies?
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
The lights on this circa 1920 photo could be deterioration but it looks like fairies to us!
1919 Grace
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Aren't they just the picture of grace?
"La Argentina"
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Antonia Mercé y Luque, known as "La Argentina", in 1935.
Marion Morgan Dancers
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Marion Morgan was a vaudevillian who created her own dance troupe.
Look at her muscles!
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Look closely, Marion Morgan really worked out with her dance.
A nymph by the waterfall
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Another outdoor dance!
Isadora Duncan
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
She lead a tragic life (all her children died young, as did she) but she left great beauty and a lasting legacy.
Outdoor Elizabeth Duncan
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
The art of the photo, both in dance and reflection!
Marion Morgan
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
The cymbal and the form!
A flowing costume
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
The artistry comes from the interplay of costume and dance.
Perky!
It isn't known if she was a USO performer or on the stage - but she sure is perky!
Like a statue!
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
She's posed - not yet dancing. But her costume allows everything to be seen when she does dance.
Isadora
![AncientFaces Photo of AncientFaces](https://media-af-photos-user.ancientfaces.com/137/10731/1073120210602201733-tiny.png?)
Isadora Duncan was known for her dancing with scarves. And it was a scarf that killed her in 1927 - a scarf that she was wearing was caught in the spokes of the wheels of a car and strangled her.